Thursday, December 5, 2013

The last coconut

So I am leaving Mysore tomorrow night. Some friends and I are taking a day trip to Melukote tomorrow before I take a taxi to Bangalore so today is my last full day in Mysore. From here I go to see a wonderful friend in Tanzania for a week and then I return to the land of dark and raining and potable tap water.
Last night I was thinking about my time here in an over-all sort of way -what I liked, what I didn't like, what questions got answered, what new questions I have, will I come back? when? I had some trouble pulling apart my experience in to good parts and bad parts so instead here is a list of some of the things I do here that I don't do/had not even really imagined doing at home:

1. Wear puffy green pants with elephants on them un-ironically and without ever being asked to explain my fashion choice.
2. Bobble my head back and forth especially when talking to an Indian who is also bobbling (see here)
3. Finish breakfast by eating cookies covered in peanut butter. In general eating something sweet at least once and often multiple times a day. Smoothie for dinner is not uncommon.
4. Grab my ankles every day. Its starting to feel really good. I will really miss Saraswathi's backbending adjustments. I know after I spend some time practicing on my own (which means not grabbing my ankles because I will fall over) coming back to it will be scary again. I feel like I have overcome that fear several times but it comes creeping back. Oh well. I think maybe that process is worth something too.
5. Chant in Sanskrit. And I like it too. That was not expected for me.

So its more or less on to the next place for me. I am a bit sad to go. I have made friends who I will miss and there are aspects of life here that work really well for me. But also I am super excited to see my friend in Tanzania. And I will be happy to come back to Seattle and see my Seattle people and get some work done. Not being able to focus very much on work has reminded me that I really like what I do.